Portraits of Labrador | Photo by John Graham |Julie Bull

Julie Bull Grew up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. She is of Southern Inuit ancestry, and is a Member of NunatuKavut. Currently, she is a PhD Student at the University of New Brunswick and a Research Methods Specialist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

“I’m a bit ambivalent about Canada 150.

While there is a lot to celebrate, I don’t like that people focus only on the colonial part of our history. People are not considering the significant contributions that Indigenous Peoples made before 1867 and continue to make, nor are people acknowledging the colonization of Indigenous Peoples over the past 150 years and today.

We are not a post-colonial country: Colonization is still happening daily to Indigenous Peoples in Canada. So, for me it seems people have put blinders on and that it’s just a big celebration of whatever, including a $250,000 inflatable duck, rather than honouring the people who have built the Canada we all call home today.

Maybe in 50 years from now, on the 200th anniversary of Confederation, we will be in a place where we will not only acknowledge the European influence in this country, but also celebrate the Indigenous Peoples who were stewards of the land before their arrival and who have continuously contributed to success of Canada.”

The Tamarack Camera Club has partnered with the Labrador Institute on a photography project called The Humans of Labrador. Some of these photos will be published here as Portraits of Labrador.  The series was launched with this photo by John Graham.